How to Create Your Own Raw Food Plan

Nomi Shannon Presents

How to Create Your Own Raw Food Plan, with Nomi Shannon

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How to Create Your Own Raw Food Plan (Excepted from Raw Food for the Real World, a raw food coaching and support program created by Nomi Shannon, The Raw Gourmet.

http://www.RawFoodForTheRealWorld.com

Changing over to a new way of eating is often a confusing and rather stressful time. This is even more dramatic when transitioning to an all

or high raw diet for a number of reasons:

1. It is often totally new information-

2. When 'going raw' there is a level of detoxification taking place

that needs to be understood -

3. Any dietary change has an emotional component; and coupled with

detoxification, can totally derail the best of intentions-

4. Unlike more traditional diets, you are

more than likely to be 'the lone ranger' on this one, with friends and

family questioning what you are

doing.

I have encountered many people who have been 'thinking about' becoming a raw

fooder for a decade. Why the indecision and the excessive thinking rather than just doing it? I feel that the main

reason is the abundance or perhaps even over-abundance of information on the topic.

Time after time I see people 'freeze in place' much as a deer when

caught in the headlights of an oncoming car; too much coming at you so you don't do anything.

I totally understand this. You see, years ago I was faced with the

opposite dilemma; not enough information. That had its set of

challenges. But, today I see the confusion all the books, websites, blogs, teachers and gurus create with their differing approaches and

opinions. One doesn't know if they should start by going low glycemic, or juice fasting, or 20-10-10 or high fat or…what???

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After years of coaching people privately, I saw what a strong need there

was to create a program with a comprehensive starting point -a general maintenance raw diet- and then rapid fine- tuning of diet based on

individual need.

For many people, some 'hand holding' is extremely beneficial; I accomplish

this by literally telling you exactly what to eat 5 times a day for one full month.

But I discovered that after only one month of support the folks that took the

course still were having trouble sticking to it. With so much experience teaching and coaching, over time, I've created a multi- media (makes it

easier to learn) three month program that transforms lives not just for a few weeks but for a lifetime.

I created this booklet to accomplish two things. First, to explain the basics of

creating a raw food regimen for yourself, and second, to give you a taste of what RawFoodForTheRealWorld contains, along with some sample recipes

from the program.

In Lesson One of my Raw Food For The Real World program—"The Three Fail-Safe Steps to Success in Starting and Staying on a Raw Food Diet"---you'll discover: 1. The three secret steps to Success (described below) 2. Exactly how to customize your diet depending on your needs:

a) Underweight? Learn how to tweak your diet to add some muscle and weight, including a simple high- protein smoothie designed for athletes, nursing moms and underweight people.

b) Blood sugar issues? Learn what foods to cut back on and a simple trick to avoid issues.

c) Have Poor Digestion? Secret tricks long-term raw fooders know on how to simplify meals to give the digestive tract a break, and what healthy supplements aid digestion.

d) Want to have a gentle cleanse? What specific foods to avoid, and what to add to your daily routine.

e) Trying to get pregnant? Both Mom and Dad need to follow these protocols that are proven by a medical doctor to work.

f) and.. lots more based on the individual needs of the group.

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Three Steps to Success

First: The important issue .. is to JUST START- not worry about choosing one method over another.

Not hesitating because you don’t know which approach to use.

So don’t start out by defining your diet…

start with a general raw diet. People spend too much time and effort

trying to resolve what approach to take, who to listen to, what book or plan to follow. The point is when you know what you are doing and this

could be in 6 months or so-when your body has undergone some measure of detoxification-you will then be able to tell what affects you.

Second: Become experienced… after you have been raw for awhile-then and only then will you be able to

notice what works or doesn’t work for you. It is very hard to gauge what a body needs if it’s filled with toxins. It actually can take a very long time

before you can trust your body to tell you what it needs. If you are craving ice cream or coffee or steak you now know that these things

aren’t good for you-yet your body is saying---I want barbeque. At this

stage, you are trying NOT to listen to your body.

(By the way for people who are interested in cleansing and detoxifying,

an all raw diet in itself is a cleansing and detoxifying action-all the information you are trying to take in about juicing and fasting are higher

levels of cleansing and detoxifying but you can rest assured that going from cooked food to raw food will definitely be cleansing and detoxifying.)

Third: Refine your diet… When you can easily eat raw in whatever percentage you have chosen,

and are able to quickly make your food; then you can think about refining and experimenting. Then it will make sense, depending on how you are

feeling to explore the low glycemic approach, or the 80-10-10 approach.

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The Simplest Approach to Eating Raw Food

The simplest approach of all looks like

this:

Eat fruit until noon Then eat all veggies for the rest of

the day, with some nuts and seeds on some days

This concept was introduced to the public in the book by Harvey and Marilyn

Diamond called Fit For Life.

How that might look: Smoothies and fruit til noon

Salads, soups and juices for the rest of the day

Or, for a slightly modernized version:

Green smoothies, fruits and

juices til noon or 1 PM Then:

Salads, soups, occasional protein foods like nuts and plain veggies til dinner

Then: Zucchini pasta, pesto and marinara for dinner, Or

Carbohydrate soup for dinner (like yam soup) Or a large salad for dinner

Strategy for Setting up Your Own 3 Week Menu Plan To set up your own menu plan choose the following number of recipes:

5 breakfasts

5 soups 5 salads (variety of veggies)

5 salad dressings (or 2-3 that you like) 5 main meals or entrees

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Use these recipes to make up a 21 meal plan, 3 meals a day,

plus at least two snacks a day.

Snacks: any type of fruit, any type of veggie (red pepper, celery, carrot), a small amount of nuts or seeds, flax seed crackers, etc

Some Additional Guidelines:

Grocery shop 2 times a week so your food is always fresh

Eat protein earlier in the day, lunch is a good time, because protein

takes the longest to digest. When you eat protein at dinner your body might still be in digestion mode when you go to bed. Asking

your body to simultaneously be digesting and sleeping does not contribute either to full and proper digestion or proper sleep

patterns.

Have some carbohydrate at dinner. Carbohydrate helps prepare

your body for sleep.

In Lesson 2—"Five Secrets to Staying Raw Even if you Work Mon-Fri

from 9-5"—you'll discover Snack Ideas and some life-saving strategies for how to handle a raw lunch at work or when eating out.

The importance of having quick to grab snacks always available can not be

overstated. Here are 10. In my online three month raw food coaching course, over the three months we will develop a list of 100-200 quick and

easy snacks. If you always have something easy to grab you will be able to resist temptation.

As time goes on, the list gets fancier, but simple is always best. Build up

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your quick to grab snack list as quickly as possible, it will be one of your

most important strategies, especially if you live in a household with conventional trans-fat containing chips and other temptations.

You are only human, your healthy snacks will be essential to help you stay

on track and not feel deprived.

Did you ever eat a red pepper like it was an apple?

10 Quick to Grab Snacks:

1. Almonds 2. Lettuce wrapped around dates

3. Sunflower seeds (alone or with raisins) 4. Fruit

5. Kirby cucumber

6. Sugar snap peas 7. Green beans

8. Avocado w sea salt 9. sunchoke slices (Jerusalem artichokes)

10. slices of zucchini with pate on them

Also: herb tea, master cleanse, lemon water, water

While attitude and coping skills, along with the answers to hundreds of questions are covered using multiple modalities in my 3 month program-

Raw Food for the Real World; for this brief booklet I am going to stick to the basic food issues.

But just understanding from the get-go that as you make dietary changes,

your emotions, habits, attitudes and bodily functions are all undergoing

massive change as well will help you to keep yourself open to coping mechanisms that can help you.

In Lesson 4- Tapping with Nick Ortner and in Bonus audio #1- Heart

Math with Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, we explore two very different approaches to coping with the many changes you will undergo as you

cleanse and heal, and learn how to optimize your health and therefore your whole life.

Will-power alone is not going to be enough when you are detoxing,

overwhelmed by temptation or just plain stumped and confused. Not to mention 12 hours with me live to talk to about what you are dealing

with in real time.

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O.K. What Do I Eat?

Actually eating raw food is all about the preparation. Once you become fast and efficient at cutting, chopping, blending and cleaning up your comfort

level will go way up.

Having the right equipment is key. At the very least, you need two good sharp knives- a chef knife and a paring knife, a decent cutting board, a

grater and a decent blender.

Things like food processors, juicers and dehydrators are real pluses but if you are a beginner, you will do fine with the basics. I do highly recommend

the Ktec blender; if you don't already own a high-powered blender this

should be at the top of your list. Here is a comparison of the top two blenders : http://rawgourmet.com/ktec-hp3-blender

There is such a thing as eating too much even with all raw; however it has

been my experience that most beginning raw fooders don’t eat enough. For example when I began I was used to buying a pint of blueberries and having

them last for a few days. But that’s because I was eating them with cereal or as a dessert. As a raw fooder, it wouldn’t be unusual to eat the entire

container at one sitting. And then another one. And then eat again an hour later.(No time for this? This is what the strategies are for, and the snack list

and the meal plans to use in the beginning.)

Fred Patenaude estimates that a “typical” raw foodist needs 4-6 pounds of food a day. Putting things in perspective there are 2-3 apples in one pound

and 2-3 bananas in one pound. If you are older, or a small person or less

active you may only require 2-3 pounds, while growing teenagers and highly active people like athletes may require more than that.

Make the following types of food when you have time like on the weekends: A pate like the sunflower pate in my book The Raw Gourmet which will

keep for 2 weeks, or a nut loaf which normally will keep for 2-3 days, or if you have a dehydrator make Flax seed crackers.

Or you can make up some marinara sauce which keeps for 3 or 4 days, then

on Monday or Tuesday make some pasta out of zucchini or parsnip, and you have a wonderful pasta meal that you can make in minutes.

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There are some yummy dessert recipes in my book that are fun to make up on the weekend like apple pie, carrot cake or yam pie, they all keep long

enough to be able to enjoy during the week. .there are many more ideas like this that are part of Raw Food for the Real World. Of course we all love to

have celebrations and special occasions from time to time and there are plenty of recipes to make that happen.

Some recipe ideas for your three week plan Green Smoothie

I strongly encourage you to start each day with a green smoothie, but there are 6 or 7 breakfast alternatives in my program for you to choose from as

well: Puddings: (papaya/tahini/banana or banana/avocado) recipes

below Applesauce (2-4 apples per serving, cinnamon) recipe below

Assorted Fresh Fruit-your choice be sure you have enough Soaked, sprouted cereals

Sweet Buckwheat Cereal (A make ahead recipe) Chia pudding and Fruit

Banana Papaya Pudding

½ ripe papaya (about one cup chopped) 1 banana

2 teaspoons raw tahini Blend and eat

You can double this recipe if you think you will be hungry too soon and if you can eat a large portion

Banana Avocado Pudding

1 banana ½ avocado

Blend You can double this recipe if you think you will be hungry too soon and

if you can eat a large portion

Applesauce

Use 2-4 apples Leave the skins on, core and seed

Cut up into small pieces and blend For a regular blender, you may have to grate at least the

First two apples then cut up the others Add cinnamon to taste.

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If necessary add the smallest amount of water possible so

blender will run properly.

Oatmeal Raw oat groats are hard to find at physical stores, they don't have a

long shelf life; which is, of course, why they steam (called 'stabilize in food jargon) them. You can find them here: Raw Food World/Nomi

Once you receive them, store them in the freezer. This isn’t a

breakfast I can advocate eating very often…but it’s filling and good for a change once in awhile.

½ cup raw whole oats, soaked 24-48 hours (in refrigerator,

change the water when you think of it at least daily every 8-12 hours is better)

2 pitted dates, or two figs soaked overnight, reserve soak water

½-1 banana, peeled ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Blend oats with with dried fruit, cinnamon and enough soak water so

the blender will work easily. Blend until smooth. Then add banana or whatever fresh fruit you’d like to use and pulse a few times, leave fruit

chunky.

Variation: Add two tablespoons soaked flax seeds (blend with oats) or soaked chia seeds (you don’t need to blend), with a cut up apple.

Large Salad

All your salads should have a large assortment of veggies: think of the rainbow. As an example try:

Large portion mixed organic greens (often called spring mix or mesclun)

Red pepper

Green beans Zucchini

Shredded carrot Shredded beet

A few cut up olives And anything else fresh and raw that appeals to you

For dressing use 1-2 Tablespoons of flax or hemp seed oil with lemon juice or a bit of Balsamic vinegar and seasonings like Frontier pizza

spice, a bit of sea salt and some dulse and kelp flakes.*

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Hint: salad tastes extra delicious if you cut it up after you put your

dressing in. I use the toss n chop but you can achieve a similar affect by cutting up your salad with a knife and fork until you have fairly

uniform pieces anywhere from ½ inch to 1 inch in diameter. It also takes much less time to eat your salad if you cut it up small.

http://rawgourmet.com/toss-n-chop

Note: if you are bringing salad to work for lunch, bring dressing or pate in a separate container and add it just before eating.

*Nomi's favorite dressing

2-4 tablespoons flax oil (or hemp oil) 2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh of course) or

2 tablespoons good quality Balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar ½-1 teaspoon agave nectar or maple syrup

Pinch of sea salt of dash of nama shoyu (or try the coconut aminos)

Big dash of pizza seasoning or other seasoning of your choice

Use any spices or herbs you like: chopped garlic or onion, basil. My favorite is frontier brand pizza seasoning; I like their Bombay veggie

blend too for a nice East Indian flavor. I also love any spice that makes things taste Asian like Chinese 5 spice powder.

Large salad with Marinated

Veggies For greens, try arugula! Or

mache if you can find it-it is delicious!! How about

watercress? For a large marinated veggie salad for

company I use the packaged

box of mixed greens; they are recognizable, folks are used to

them. Don't want to rock the boat with company.

Cut up 6-8 other veggies into

small pieces, try: celery, cucumber, zucchini, mushroom, green beans, sugar snap peas, tomato-that last bit of broccoli from your soup the

other day, and the asparagus if there’s any left over, or cauliflower. Make a dressing from vinegar or lemon and flax oil*. Place the cut up

veggies in the dressing at the bottom of your salad bowl. Toss. Allow to sit for a bit 2-10 minutes. Then top off with your assorted greens

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and toss. A bit of fruit like papaya squares or blueberries on top adds a

nice touch.

Note: you can marinate the cut up veggies for several hours, the longer the better. I often put them on the bottom, let them be for 1-2

hours,then right before dinner add a bunch of greens and toss.

Other options (this is endless) Add chopped pepper, onion, cabbage, grated parsnip and beet, got

any asparagus left? That spoils fast and it’s expensive –use it up. How about green beans, sugar snap peas? Edible flowers? Edible weeds

from your yard? Maybe some sliced mushrooms. Grate up that last bit of broccoli from the soup the other day. Instead of lemon try Balsamic

vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar or orange juice with a dash of Asian spices. Chop it up fine.

Try: fennel, bok choy, chives, turnip, turnip greens, rutabaga, radishes, chard, kale, kohlrabi, rapini, radicchio, escarole, Chinese

cabbage, or Kirby cucumbers.

I love thin sliced carambola (star fruit) on top of my salad and pomegranate seeds look like little rubies. You eat first with your eyes,

so remember to make your salads attractive. Even 'just' for yourself.

Hint: when you just have small bits of veggies left, wrap them, then place them together in one baggie or container that way you will know

what you have very quickly. Odd bits can be put into soup and are very useful in salads, as you can see above.

Carrot Pasta with Indonesian Yum-Yum Sauce

Make carrot pasta with the saladacco or the spirooli or spiralo. Keep making until you have a bowlful. (You can make pasta by simply using

your vegetable peeler and making long carrot strands with it.)

If you have my book, The Raw Gourmet, this is also excellent with Gado Gado Sauce.

Indonesian Yum-Yum Sauce

½ cup water (or fresh coconut water if you have it) 3-4 tablespoons raw almond butter

2 teaspoons raisins (soaked 20 minutes) optional ¾ teaspoon nama shoyu, or wheat free Tamari

½ teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder

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1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon ground flax seed

Blend well. Refrigerate. Will keep for a few days. Pour over carrot pasta, can

be warmed in a pot on the stove, stirring constantly until warm to the touch. (You can pour hot water over the carrots (not boiling) drain, put carrots in a

hot dish and pour the warm sauce over for a warm meal. Serve with a simple green salad with a bit of lemon squeezed over it. Suggested greens:

kale, mustard, cabbage, bok choy.

note: Please do not 'warm your food' in a dehydrator. This just invites bacteria etc to grow. Simply warm quickly in a pot on the stove.

Warm Butternut Squash soup with hijiki salad

(Butternut Soup recipe here, hijiki salad recipe in is in Raw Food for the Real World and in The Raw Gourmet)

This recipe is adapted from Rene Underkoffler’s book, Living Cuisine. This makes enough soup for 4-5 servings, it will keep for a few days. It is warm.

It is cooked. If you want to be 100% raw, substitute a carrot or yam soup from my book The Raw Gourmet

3 cups water

2 cloves garlic 1 medium sweet onion chopped (about 1 cup rough chopped)

2 teaspoons sea-salt 4 cups cubed butternut squash (I have seen this already cut up in the

stores…I cut mine but I can appreciate short cuts) 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave

In a soup pot, bring water just to simmer with garlic, onion and sea salt.

Turn the heat to low. Add cubed squash. Allow to remain on low flame just until a fork can pierce the squash, about 10-20 minutes. Cover pot and turn

off heat. Let soup sit for a few minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor. Add olive oil and sweetener and blend until smooth.

Nomi's notes: If you happen to own an immersion (stick) blender, now

would be a good time to use it, just leave everything in the pot. DON'T PULL THE BLENDER ABOVE THE SURFACE WHILE USING UNLESS YOU WANT TO

WASH YOUR CEILING.

Now, what I would do to make this meal at least partially raw is I would then add a few handfuls of raw stuff to the warm bowl of soup…like: parsley,

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cilantro, chopped kale, grated carrot or squash, sprouts etc. But that's just

me.

Avocado/Guacamole

If you made bread or crackers over the last weekend, you can simply put together an open sandwich with sliced avocado, maybe a few bits of red

pepper and or onion, a sprinkle of sea salt or herbamare, and a generous sprinkle of Frontier Pizza spice for a quickly made and very hearty and

yummy lunch. Or you can make up some guacamole and spread on over the

bread/crackers then top with whatever pleases you. You could probably fill a 300 page book with guacamole recipes. Here's an easy one.

Guac for One

1 avocado cut up ½ red pepper chopped fairly fine

1 scallion chopped fine 1 celery stalk chopped fine

1 clove garlic finely minced ½ teaspoon Nama Shoyu or wheat free Tamari or more to taste

pinch sea salt optional pinch cayenne optional

It's a nice touch and added flavor if you put a bit of sea salt on the minced

garlic and mush it together with a fork or the back of a spoon, in fact I

sprinkle the salt on as I mince it…just a nice little gourmet thing to do you- don't really have to.

In a small bowl mash the avocado with a fork, mix in the rest of the

ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasonings, it will become more garlicky if you don't eat every drop right away as you probably are going to do.

Brilliant Cabbage rolls (Pictured on the cover of this booklet) There are two recipes in my book The Raw Gourmet for cabbage rolls, take a look at them both if you have it, either concept will work. They are on pages 44 and 51. 2 or 3 large green cabbage leaves. Remove any outside leaves that are dirty or beaten up, and take the first large good leaves that you can find BEFORE you cut the cabbage up for any reason.

Use green cabbage (it's softer and more pliable than red [purple] cabbage leaves) but you can use red leaves as well by using one of the softening methods below.

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This is a really neat way to make a quick “sandwich”, other good greens are collard (needs softening as well), Romaine or any large green leaf. I have two favorite methods of softening the leaf so it will roll well. If you have a dehydrator, the easiest way is to just put the leaves in the dehydrator for 5-10 minutes. This works really well so keep your eye on them so they don’t become too limp. The other way is to dip them in hot water just long enough to become pliable. The trick is to have the water hot enough to slightly wilt the leaves but not hot enough to kill all the enzymes in them. Bring water just to boil, turn off and allow to cool for awhile before immersing the cabbage leaf. You may or may not need to kind of shave the thick rib in the leaf or cut it out entirely, depending on the leaf.

You can use a sushi mat to roll the cabbage or just roll them up –both methods work well. Line each cabbage leaf with spinach leaves, or basil and or other soft greens. Here are some suggested additional ingredients : 1 asparagus spear down the center, sliced olives down the center Julienne: carrot and or celery-down the center Top with: Greens, sprouts, tomato, spinach or avocado etc. OR, 2-3 Tablespoons of pate, nut loaf or guacamole topped with wasabi paste, olive rounds, julienned (or saladacco'd) carrots/parsnips/beets..or a huge handful of sprouts or greens, always use something colorful like julienned carrot or thinly sliced red pepper because it looks so pretty when sliced. Tightly roll and eat as is or cut at an angle, and enjoy…. You can use this same concept with nori rolls. This one recipe with its myriad of variations can feed you for years to come. Make it your own.

In Raw Food for the Real World ; here is what a typical day might look like*

Week Two: Wednesday

Breakfast Green Smoothie

Snack fruit or nuts/seeds

Lunch Cabbage Roll ups

Snack ½ avocado w lemon

Dinner Warm Butternut soup with Hijiki salad

*Some students follow this plan exactly; others take some ideas like one or two recipes a week and tweak and follow a plan of their own device…

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Some additional good resources for simple recipes The Raw Gourmet, Simple Recipes for Living Well

The Little Book of Raw Soups

The Little Book of Raw Smoothies

The Little Book of Raw Pastas

Raw But Not Naked, the Little book of Salad Dressing

What do Raw Fooders Eat? Discover Exactly What the Successful Ones Do

Did you find this booklet helpful? If so, why stop here? I've only scratched the surface. Click here to learn more about Raw Food for The Real World.

Raw Food For The Real World: No complicated recipes,

No expensive shopping list and no more choking down

boring breakfast, lunches and dinners that take forever to make!